there were taxis. there was also some kind of drag racing going on with a bunch of similarly looking taxis when they left flight of the gibbon. they were the only cars on the road and they occupied both lanes trying to outrace each other's taxi. hehehe. fun to watch.

(is that you calvin? ---if so we are doubly glad to see you here and thank you again for the wonderful recaps! They really help to tide us over while we are still waiting....)

hi peach, yup this is me. sorry it took awhile to finish the whole thing. it was a really long episode. i'll try to visit next week so that i could participate in the real time posting of spoilers. hehehe.

(is that you calvin? ---if so we are doubly glad to see you here and thank you again for the wonderful recaps! They really help to tide us over while we are still waiting....)

hi peach, yup this is me. sorry it took awhile to finish the whole thing. it was a really long episode. i'll try to visit next week so that i could participate in the real time posting of spoilers. hehehe.

I was amazed at how quickly you did it! But we would LOVE it if you could join us--those of us who don't get to see right away are relying on y'all for help! And feel free to chime in while we are working on stuff too--all help appreciated!

Logged

RFF's Golden Rule:Have RESPECT for each other, regardless of opinion. This of course includes no flaming/insulting other users and/or their posts.

...especially in this second episode which ended lasting almost two days!

In my three seasons, this is the first episode that got bumped up to a ninety-minute special because there was just too much that happened to these teams. And if you were able to catch it, you'll know what I am talking about. Right from the start, teams had a difficult time getting from one place to another. I think some people might have been surprised to see Mai and Oliver go from first place in the first episode to pulling up the rear in certain portions of the second leg, especially since they are from Thailand too! I think that just goes to show you that "home court (or country) advantage" really doesn't mean that much because anything can happen...at anytime.

Logged

RFF's Golden Rule:Have RESPECT for each other, regardless of opinion. This of course includes no flaming/insulting other users and/or their posts.

I have finally seen the entirety of ARA3 episode 2. It is crammed full of tasks with lots of action. Here are the things that particularly impressed me:

1. Vince and Sam seeing 6am on the Hours of Operation sign at the flower market and then telling themselves it is really 7am. The loss of an hour in a tight, short episode could have resulted in their elimination from this mistake.

2. Geoff trying to get away with stealing a basket of chickens from AD and Fuzzie.

3. Geoff saying "this is starting to annoy me. Let's get out of here" in a very frustrated voice.

4. I hear the clue instruction "travel by bus to" and the video shows everyone taking vans(could they be classified as "buses"?).

5. Natalie was a total pain throughout her time in the Bangkok airport when stranded overnight and Pailin elects to have them sleep there. Natalie was also a pain when making references to minimal cleanliness and wanting to quit as a result. Has she never seen an Amazing Race? Did she think it would be a picnic designed to coddle her? Where are Dustin and Kandace when you need them in ARA3?

6. I thought that the rules of the gift to a charity were broken at least twice. One team gave the balance of their unspent funds to their charity. Although I'm sure that would be the best outcome for the charity, I doubt that that is what the ARA creators had in mind. Why didn't that team get a penalty? Of course the worst offendors were Pailin and Natalie who gave their entire $500. That makes it easy on them but defeats the purpose of the task.

7. Bernie and Henry are tough as I expected they would be. AD and Fuzzie have surprised me by being much quicker to do things than I expected. Natalie has wiped out, but Pailin has the right attitudes and may be able to keep that team on course.

Since 4 teams on camera appeared to fly from Chiang Mai directly to Siem Reap, I want to see how that can be explained. The only airline listed as flying that route is Bangkok Airways and the flight is PG927 arriving at 1830 (and probably departing around 1700). However, it is listed as Thursday and Saturday only. Thursday was May 22 and Saturday May 24. May 22 was the correct day of the week for the flight. However, when I attempt to put Chiang Mai to Siem Reap into the Bangkok Airways reservations system, it will not allow it. I have to believe that those teams booked it anyway.

actually pailin & natalie really would have been on 8th place..the thing is they went straight to their charity & just gave the money w/o having to buy anything becoz the director said that she will be the one to buy the things while mai & oliver had to buy a laptop still before going to their charity.. isaac & william got screwed on the chicken detour, labeling themselves as "city boys", they were slow on getting the chickens

I was a little surprised that Isaac and William had to buy food. I would have thought the director would have just asked for the money to buy fresh food the next day.

After watching this episode, Natalie did not come off well. As badly as Mai came off in the first episode, Natalie comes off even worse! Oliver was absolutely right. He wanted to race and Pailin wanted to race. It looks like Mai came for fun, but at least I give her credit for wanting to be with the kids at the orphanage. If you put Oliver and Pailin together, dropping Mai and Natalie, you'd have one formidable team!

Pailin wanted to save money by staying at Bangkok Airport instead of going to a hotel. I was waiting for Natalie to make a stupid comment like Kendra's "ghetto Africa" in TAR6, but it didn't happen. Natalie & Pailin were lucky the director of their charity just took the money.

And Geoff!!! Where can I begin on this douchebag? Blowing a whistle?? Yelling at Tisha?? I'm thinking about my recap and wondering who's going to get it worse? Geoff or Natalie. It's a tossup right now.

Lastly, I'll have to ask this of Michael McKay later in the season, but I wonder knowing how many people of privilege there are in this season, did he and the production staff decide to ramp up the physical tasks to "knock them down a peg" so to speak. I'm actually enjoying the season to date and liking the fact that so many of the racers are finding this to be very tough.

TARAsia fan, I regard Natalie's statements about and in Bangkok Ariport for the night as classifying her as a total prima donna, a bit worse than Mai who was not obnoxious at all in episode 2 except when refusing to bag chickens.Her statements about needing constant cleanliness are even more absurd in the context of a race which allows time for that at pitstops but seldom in between them. Which race did she think she was doing, the Powderpuff Derby?

Her statements about needing constant cleanliness are even more absurd in the context of a race which allows time for that at pitstops but seldom in between them. Which race did she think she was doing, the Powderpuff Derby?

Nat should say 'being dirty is the lowest form of human existence' on their audition tape.......

Having to say that I am fully loving TARA and seeing the beutiful Asian countryside as the seasons and episodes have played out...Just wish that one video site had better quality...but hey, at least I can watch it...

Question...Does anyone know the times that each group finished? I have always wanted some sort of time snippet during the show to give viewers a better sense of placement. I know that the producers want the "Surprise Effect." So they edit to their advantage.

It has gotten to the point where I look for shadows or for dwindling sunlight, etc. to prove to my wife that a team is so far or so close behind.

Durin the episode there is no accurate way to know how far teams are apart if you don't see them in the same shot, except the things you already mentioned (shadows). The teams themselves sometimes say stuff like "now we have to wait an hour for the bus" or "we ran around 30mins searching for a taxi" or something like that, so those are clues as well. The only accurate time that is given is in the next episode when they start, so you can see how far apart they arrived at the pitstop.